Robotic
arms work on vehicles as they move along the production line at the
Ford India Pvt. Maraimalai Nagar factory in Chengalpattu, India:photo by Kuni Takahashi/Bloomberg, 17 April 2012

Employees
at the Fiat SpA and Guangzhou Automobile Group Co. factory work on
vehicles in Changsha, China. Fiat, with two failed
partnerships in China, returned to manufacturing cars in the world's
largest vehicle market: photo by Nelson Ching/Bloomberg, 28 June 2012

An employee walks past new cars at Ford's joint venture in Chongqing, China: photo by Stringer/Reuters, 12 October 2010

Traffic
plods through heavy smog in Beijing. China will
start assessing the "social risk" of major projects, its environmental
protection minister said, after anti-pollution protests forced a series
of industrial ventures to be cancelled: photo by Wang Zhao/AFP. 21 November 2012

Christmas of frustrationstuffed into the stuffof longingreindeerdelicious drinksso far awaythe snow the Christmasthe candles of Christmasburn burn burnwith the fuel of dreamingthis dream these sceneswhere I live the whole year long.

Well, now that I can no longer walk without misery, now that the buses are always late or not running, now that it's always raining and I can't get beyond the falling-down trees in raccoon world, I'd almost be tempted to wish I had a car were my entire existence not dominated by the aftermath of having been run over by one.

A Jetta it was. Though a Plymouth would have been better. No one would let a Plymouth loose on this raceway.